Article counting device



F. S. HYER ETAL ARTICLE COUNTING DEVICE Nov. 22, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 4, 1964 I I l Nov. 22, 1966 F. s. HYER ETAL 3,286,921

ARTICLE COUNTING DEVICE Filed Feb. 4, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mm mm u \H Illlll 74 58 72 62C y 5. mm

IIHII United States Patent 3,286,921 ARTICLE COUNTING DEVICE Frank S. Hyer, Duxbury, Mass, and John W. Loeffler, Milwaukee, and Palmer T. Sever-son, Wauwatosa, Wis., assignors to Cutler-Hammer, Inc, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 4, 1964, Ser. No. 342,489 6 Claims. (Cl. 235-98) This invention relates to article counting devices and more specifically to counters for articles in a conveyed stream.

Previously, in the counting of articles such as newspapers, the most common mechanical types of article counting devices included, as the article sensing element, a lever or roller which contacted the article stream and was displaced by each article in a direction generally perpendicular to the direction of movement of the article stream. A counting device exemplary of that type is shown in the F. E. Howdle et al. Patent No. 3,027,075, issued March 27, .1962. While satisfactory for most applications, that type of device required 18.11 article of at least a minimum thickness to displace the article sensing element sufliciently to cause a count. Very thin articles, such as small newspapers, while not having sufiicient thickness to reliably actuate the aforedescribed type of counting device may be counted by a device which intercepts the leading edge of the article and is thereupon displaced in the direction of stream travel for a distance sufficient to cause a count. The article sensing element of such a device may be a rotary member having at its periphery, cogs or teeth arranged to engage the leading edges of the articles.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved article counter of the latter described type which is easily actuatable and is capable of reliably counting articles of a wide range of thicknesses.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a counting device which has a long operating 'life and has a minimum number of moving and wearing parts.

Another object of this invention is to provide an article counting device which is of extremely rugged construction, which will survive abuse during operation.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an article counting device of the aforedescribed type which will perform reliably at high rates of speed.

It is a more specific object to provide a counting device of the aforedescribed type which utilizes a magnetic detent to prevent uncontrolled rotation of the article sensing element.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

While the devices hereinafter described are adapted to fulfill the objects stated, it is to be understood that it is not intended that the invention be confined to the particular preferred embodiment disclosed since it is susceptible of various modifications without departing ifrom the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side View of a counting device embodying the present invention and mounted in operative relationship to a conveyed stream of newspapers;

FIG. 2 is a top View of the counting device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the device taken on line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded isometric view of the device;

FIG. 5 is a side View of a second version of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a partially sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

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FIGURES 1, 2, l3 and 4 illustrate a first embodiment of the invention having magnetic pickup for formation of output pulse counts and a single magnetic detent. In FIG. 1, there is shown a conveyed stream of overlapped newspapers -2 traveling from right to left between flexible moving wire belts 4. The newspaper counting mechanism is held pressed against the upper surface of the yielding conveyed paper stream 2. A cantilever support shoe member 6 is rigidly afiixed at one end by a clamp comprising screws 8 and cap 10 which engages a fixed rod 11 traversing the paper stream conveyor. The other end of support 6 projects downstream to contact the upper surface of the conveyed stream of newspapers 2.

Support member 6 has a lower surface 12 for contacting the paper stream which comprises three fiat portions 12a, 12b and 12c set at small angles to one another. Two walls 14 and 16 extend upwardly adjacent the edges of bottom surfaces 12a and 12b to form a U-shaped channel in the intermediate portion of support 6. A sloping wall 18 is formed panallel to and between walls 14 and 16. Two bearing retaining bosses 20 and 22 are formed on support 6 integrally with walls 18 and 16 respectively. A stiffening web 24 extends transversely between walls 14, 18 and 16.

A cogwheel 26 made of lferro-magnetic material and having four peripheral teeth 28 and a hub 30 is mounted for rotation betwen bosses 20* and 22. A slot 32, through which cogwheel 26 extends, is provided in the lower surface 12b of support 6. Cogwheel 26 is securely fastened by means of a spring spin 34 to a shaft 36 inserted through the central aperture in hub 30. Spring pin 34 is pressed into the alined apertures 38 and 40' in shaft 36 and hub 30 respectively. The ends of shaft 36 are supported by a pair of ball bearing assemblies 42 which are pressed into the axially alined apertures in bosses 20 and 22.

A magnetic pickup impulse generator 44 of a type manufactured by Electro Products Laboratories, Chicago, Illinois, as Model 3010A is mounted adjacent cogwheel 26 so that cogs 28 pass in close proximity to magnetic pole piece 46 as cogwheel 26 rotates. The electrical impulses resulting [from the passage of magnetic teeth 28 past pole piece 46 are carried by a cable 48 to an appropriate pulse counting apparatus (not shown). Pickup 44 is mounted on a L-shaped bracket 50, the lower leg of which is brazed to the upper surface of support 6.

It can be seen that the passage of each newspaper in stream 2 will, by contact with a tooth 28, cause another tooth 28 to move upwardly past pole piece 46. Each resultant electrical impulse therefore represents the passage of one newspaper in stream 2. As a tooth 28 is advanced by contact with the leading edge of a newspaper to the position shown in FIG. 1, the following tooth 28 moves downwardly to contact the upper surface of the newspaper. This contact tends to arrest the rota tion of cogwheel 26 in the position shown in FIG. 1 until the following tooth is contacted by the next newspaper in the stream.

A detent action for cogwheel 26 is provided by a permanent magnet 52 mounted in close proximity to cogwheel 26 to magnetically attract each tooth 28 as it passes. Magnet 52 thereby provides a structurally simple detent means with no moving parts and which is smoothly operable over wide speed ranges. The detent further requires no lubrication, cannot gum up as a result of paper dust or ink mist, and is easily adjusted. The edge 54 of magnet 52 past which teeth 28 pass closely is chamfered to increase the effectiveness of the magnet. The magnet 52 rests on the sloping upper edge of wall 18 and the top of web 24 and is securely clamped in place by setscrews 56 which are threaded in apertures in walls 14 and 16 to engage opposite faces of the magnet.

With no newspapers in contact with cogwheel 26, the attraction of magnet 52 on a tooth 28 holds cogwheel 26 in the position shown in FIG. 1 so that the first newspaper in an approaching stream may be properly intercepted by a tooth 28. Following the passage of the last newspaper in a stream the magnet helps to prevent uncontrolled freewheeling rotation of cogwheel 26. During the counting process, magnet 52 also helps to arrest the rotation of cogwheel in the position of FIG. 1 between newspapers to thereby prevent spurious counts.

FIGS. and6 of the drawings illustrate a second version of counting device which differs from the first illustrated version principally by the use of a rotary electrical switch 58 for pulse formation and a plurality of magnet assemblies 60, 62 and 64 for detention of cogwheel 66.

The pulser switch 58 is of a type which produces an electrical pulse output for a selected amount of rotation of its shaft 58a and may be of the type sold under the trademark Rotaswitch pulsers manufactured by Disc Instruments, Inc. of Santa Ana, California. In the embodiment illustrated, a pulser switch 58 would be chosen which produces five pulses for each full rotation of the shaft. Since the cogwheel 66 has five teeth, one pulse would then be produced for each article which passes the counting device.

The magnet assemblies 60, 62 and 64 are preferably horseshoe type ceramic permanent magnets such as manufactured as Part No. 1423 by Storch Products Co., Inc., Detroit, Michigan. In magnet assembly 62 there is a U-shaped member 62a of magnetic material. The ceramic permanent magnet 62b is mounted between the legs of member 62a and oriented with the polarity as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Magnet assemblies 60 and 64 are of a polarity opposite to that of the center magnet assembly 62 because it has been found that such an arrangement provides a slightly more efficient detent action as compared to three magnets which all have the same polarity. A plastic material 620 encases magnet 62b. A pair of threaded studs 62d with nuts 62c are fastened to the back of member 62a for the purpose of adjustably mounting the assembly. Magnet assemblies 60 and 64 are of similar construction except that for reasons stated their polarities are preferably opposite to that of assembly 62.

This second version has a support member 68 somewhat similar to member 6 previously described and is similarly clamped at one end to transverse fixed rod 11 with the article sensing components mounted at the other end. Intermediate the ends of support 68, there is mounted a flange 70 for the support of electrical wiring (not shown).

Two parallel walls 72 and 74 on the top of support member 68 extend upwardly to provide stiffening and to support other elements of the counter mechanism. Bosses 76 and 78 are formed in walls 72 and 74, respectively, for the support of two axially alined ball bearing assemblies 80 and 82. A hollow rotatable shaft 84 is sup ported at its end by bearings 80 and 82. Cogwheel 66 is securely fastened to a hub 86 which is in turn fastened intermediate the ends of shaft 84 by setscrews 88. Interior of shaft 84 and firmly afiixed thereto is an insert 90 having a concentric aperture 90a bored in one end to accommodate rotatable shaft 58a of pulser 58. Insert 90 is provided with a screwdriver slot 90b facing outwardly for use in adjusting the device. At the apertured inward facing end of insert 90, another diametrical slot 90c is formed to accommodate the ends of pin 94 which passes through shaft 58a. The engagement of pin 94 with slot 900 provides non-slipping rotative coupling between insert 90 and shaft 58a.

The pulser switch 58 is fastened to wall 70 by a pair of screws 96 which are accessible through a corresponding pair of apertures in wall 74 (as shown in FIG. 5). A gasket 100 is placed between wall 72 and pulser switch 58.

A nearly semicircular sector member 102 for the support of magnet assemblies 60, 62, and 64 is fastened to the inner surface of wall 74 by screws 104. Three integrally formed angle brackets 102a, 10212 and 1020 extend from the outer radius of sector member 102 to accommodate the mounting studs of magnet assemblies 60, 62 and 64 thereby supporting these assemblies at the periphery of cogwheel 66. Each magnet assembly is so mounted as to be in close proximity to the teeth of cogwheel 66 as they pass but to allow physically unobstructed rotation of cogwheel 66,

The placement of the device of FIGS. 5 and 6 with respect to the moving paper stream is the same as that of the previously described device of FIG. 1 and its operation is generally similar. The leading edge of each news paper engages a tooth of cogwheel 66 to cause rotation of shaft 58a of pulser switch 58. The magnet assemblies 60, 62 and 64 act on the adjacent magnetic teeth of cogwheel 66 to provide position indexing and detent functions generally similar to those provided by magnet 52 in the device of FIG. 1.

The use of a switch for the formation of pulses such as in the device of FIGS. 5 and 6 enables the counter to be used to count articles traveling at very low speeds since the magnitude of the pulse does not depend on the speed of rotation of the cogwheel. The magnetic pulse coil 44 of FIG. 1 requires a minimum speed to generate a pulse of usable magnitude. Where the switching element of the counting device is a magnetically operated reed switch, the use of multiple smaller and partially shielded detent magnets 60, 6'2, and 64 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 causes less interferenc with the operation of the reed switches.

We claim:

1. An article counting device comprising:

supporting means for being mounted adjacent a conveyed stream of articles to be counted;

rotatable means mounted on said supporting means and having a plurality of teeth of magnetic material on the periphery thereof extending to intercept said co veyed articles and to be thereby rotated;

means for sensing the rotation of said rotatable means to thereby sense the number of passing articles;

and detent means comprising stationary magnet means mounted adjacent the periphery of said rotatable means for attracting said teeth of magnetic material as they pass to provide a detent action for said rotatable means.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 in which said sensing means comprises a magnetic pulse generator mounted adjacent the periphery of said rotatable means for detecting the passage of teeth of magnetic material.

3. The invention as defined in claim 1 in which said sensing means comprises:

electric switch means;

and means for mechanically connecting said electric switch means to said rotatable means.

4. An article counting device comprising:

supporting means for being mounted adjacent a conveyed stream of articles to be counted;

rotatable means mountedon said supporting means and having a plurality of teeth of magnetic material on the periphery thereof extending to intercept said conveyed articles and to be thereby rotated; means for sensing the rotation of said rotatable means to thereby sense the number of passing articles;

and a plurality of magnets spaced about the periphery of said rotatable means to correspond in spacing to the angular interval between said teeth whereby said magnets simultaneously cooperate with separate teeth.

5. The invention as defined in claim 4 in which said magnets are polarized so that any pair of adjacent magnets are of opposite polarity with reference to said rotatable means.

6. An article counting system for a stream of articles conveyed in a lapped relation and having a yield-able surface comprising:

a support pressed into contact with said yieldable surface of said stream;

rotatable means mounted on said support and extending therefrom to contact said stream;

a plurality of teeth of magnetic material extending from the periphery of said rotatable means for engaging the leading edges of said articles to thereby cause rotation of said rotatable (means, each tooth as it is moved by a leading edge causing a following tooth to contact the surface of said article to arrest the rotation of said rotatable means until said following tooth is engaged by the next leading edge of an article;

means for sensing the rotation of said rotatable means to thereby sense the number of passing articles;

and detent means for said rotatable means comprising stationary magnet means mounted adjacent the periphery of said rotatable means for attracting said teeth as they pass.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

LEO SMILOW, Examiner.

20 T. J. ANDERSON, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN ARTICLE COUNTING DEVICE COMPRISING: SUPPORTING MEANS FOR BEING MOUNTED ADJACENT A CONVEYED STREAM OF ARTICLES TO BE COUNTED; ROTATABLE MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORTING MEANS AND HAVING A PLURALITY OF TEETH OF MAGNETIC MATERIAL ON THE PERIPHERY THEREOF EXTENDING TO INTERCEPT SAID CONVEYED ARTICLES AND TO BE THEREBY ROTATED; MEANS FOR SENSING THE ROTATION OF SAID ROTATABLE MEANS TO THEREBY SENSE THE NUMBER OF PASSING ARTICLES; AND DETENT MEANS COMPRISING STATIONARY MAGNET MEANS MOUNTED ADJACENT THE PERIPHERY OF SAID ROTATABLE MEANS FOR ATTRACTING SAID TEETH OF MAGNETIC MATERIAL AS THEY PASS TO PROVIDE A DETENT ACTION FOR SAID ROTATABLE MEANS. 